


the boy's eyes (the man's future)

by TolkienGirl



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 00:08:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19712329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TolkienGirl/pseuds/TolkienGirl
Summary: What has Peter Parker ever known?





	the boy's eyes (the man's future)

Sobbing through Tony Stark's funeral is far from the worst of it. There is—look, you're supposed to be sad at funerals. That's the package life gives you for your sorrow, a neat little compartment for your grief.

Peter has always sucked at that. The whole—pulling it back together thing. First his parents, then Ben, and both of those times, he was a kid, so people got it. He went to therapy and drew with crayons that were too waxy and talked about feelings that were too big and too small all at once. He went to school and aced his tests and accidentally acquired a bit of a quirk along the way.

As quirks went, it was...out-sized.

Meeting the greatest hero ever, accidentally calling him _dad_ a couple times, watching him burn too bright to live—

(And so watching him die)

Peter is not very good at this.

But what has Peter Parker ever known?

He's still sixteen with five years gone. Still broken in the boring ways that people don't ask about, still longing for the thrills that most people living just can't understand. Ned tries. Happy is...doing something. MJ exists.

And Tony?

_If you die...that's on me._

What if Tony dies? No, _died_ , past tense, drained himself of shining life and striking wit and everything but one last moment of looking Peter in the eyes, looking Pepper in the eyes.

Then that moment, too, was gone.

Tony Stark, said the mayor of the city, said the governor of New York, said the President of the United States—he lives forever in our hearts.

Ok. Ok Ok Ok. Deep breaths. MJ has a smile like a comet and Ned's laugh is like it's always been and May loves Peter more than anything.

So what if Tony's dead and Nat's dead and Cap's a couple years away from a nursing home? So what if crime continues and aliens are out there and every nightmare somehow ends in outer space?

Peter will not learn the answers to these questions over a field of tulips. He will not feel the pain in his chest go away—no, not just because of the cracked ribs. He will simply keep going. He will take it all with him and _move_.

What has Peter Parker ever known?

The greatest hero, the truest friend, the girl he loves.

For now—enough.


End file.
